6/13/2007

The Polish government might not be especially popular with the markets or with Warsaw’s business elite, and it has unquestionably made a number of policy blunders since it came into power a year and a half ago. However, it is also unquestionable that the Polish government has stuck to a generally conservative fiscal stance. It looks like the public budget for 2008 will reflect this fiscal conservatism.

Yesterday, the news agency Thomson Financial quoted government sources as saying that they will target a budget deficit of PLN 30bn (around 3½% of GDP) for a second year running. Hence, Poland will be close to fulfilling the Maastricht criteria for public finances (a deficit of 3% of GDP and public debt below 60% of GDP). We clearly welcome the Polish government’s continued conservative stance in fiscal policy. In general the budget assumption looks fairly realistic - maybe even conservative - relative to our expectations for the Polish economy. Hence, the Polish government expects GDP growth of 5.7% y/y in 2008. This is pretty close to both consensus and our expectation. The government expects inflation at 2.3% y/y in 2008. This, in our view, is a little optimistic in light of the continued acceleration in wage growth. That said, it is hard to say that these forecasts have been overly “politicised”.

Overall, the continued fiscal conservatism in the budget assumption should not be a big surprise to the market, but we nevertheless welcome it. The interesting thing will be how the minor partners in the coalition government react to the budget assumption. We would particularly expect the populist Sammobrona party to support higher spending.

"The figure is PLN 241.5 bln," Gilowska told a press conference. "The real pace [of revenue growth] will be significantly lower, as real revenues this year will exceed the budget."

Poland's budget deficit amounted to 6.9% of the annual plan at end-April, below the original forecast of 25.7% of the planned full-year deficit of PLN 30 bln. Budget revenues came in at PLN 81.166 bln, or 35.5% of the full-year plan, while expenditures measured PLN 83.227 bln, or 32.1% of the plan.

Three waitresses dish out waffle cones topped with scoops of strawberry, lemon and apple gelato as fast as they can at the Cafe Rialto.

Even on chilly days, the line stretches out the door, one more sign of Poland's economic boom that is putting cash in people's pockets and whetting appetites for everything from upscale ice cream to sleek plasma TVs.

Increasing demand spurred Robert Buerger, who opened his cafe in 2001, to invest $33,600 in a new gelato mixer in March. He employs nine workers and plans to open a second ice cream parlor sometime this year.

"People have more money to spend and are more open to spending it," Buerger said.

Three years after Poland's inclusion in the European Union gave its economy an initial kick out of its doldrums and opened the doors to Polish exports, investment and domestic demand have taken the lead in driving the country's robust growth.

Poland's economy expanded at a 7.4 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, the best since 7.6 percent in the second quarter of 1997. That comes after a healthy 6.7 percent for 2006 that outpaced the euro zone's 2.7 percent.

Economists say more jobs are putting money in people's pockets, and more spending is spurring businesses to expand.

"Everything is in the right place," says Mateusz Szczurek, the chief economist for ING Bank Slaski in Warsaw.

After the lean years of the early 2000s, when the economy stagnated and unemployment soared to a post-communist high of 20.7 percent, Poland is benefiting from the fastest investment growth in a decade, analysts say.

Marta Petka, an analyst at Raiffeisen Bank in Warsaw, said the expansion started when Poland joined the EU in 2004.

"And then exports gave a push to the next growth locomotive: investment," Petka said.

International giants such as Sharp Corp., Toshiba Corp. and LG.Philips LCD Co. have set up manufacturing plants.

Across the country, companies large and small are pumping funds into new projects, helping to cut the EU's highest jobless rate to an estimated 13.1 percent in May.Source:biznes.onet.pl

Poland's natural-gas monopolist PGNiG won an exploration block in an oil-rich region of Egypt, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

"On June 11, PGNiG S.A. received information the company's offer filed on November 7 for exploration on Block 3 of the Bahariya [region] in Egypt has been accepted by the Egyptian General Petroleum Company," PGNiG wrote in the statement. "This is the first bidding round for exploration concessions in Egypt PGNiG has bid for."

The exploration block PGNiG won was one of four auctioned on Monday. Egyptian firms Tharwa and Petzed, as well as Tunisian oil company HBS, won the other blocks. International majors took no part in the latest bidding round.

Compuware Corp., a Detroit-based software company that did $1 billion in sales last year, announced June 11 a job restructuring that affected three of its product development sites, including one in San Diego.

The company said it is moving work at the San Diego office to Gdansk, Poland, where Compuware develops other products, but will maintain a sales presence at its Sorrento Valley office.

Spokeswoman Lisa Elkin said a total of 245 employees are losing their jobs because of the job cuts that also affected an office in New Hampshire and another in Amsterdam, Netherlands. She declined to provide the number of people laid off at the individual offices.

The action will result in the company increasing its expenses this year by $25 million, Elkin said.

According to Rich’s Business Directories, a data-gathering service based in San Mateo, Compuware said it had 50 employees at the San Diego office in March.

he goals of the Polska Ekologia association are to protect the rights and business’ which are members of the program, and also to promote organic farming (picture: Poland) and goods. The program, writes Liliana Lehrer-Rychel, which operates throughout Poland, began in November 2006. Support for the association comes from the Mazowieckie district’s administrative center.

The organization has a number of goals in mind, and in order to see these goals brought to fruition, they will implement several publishing businesses. This will also provide print material which will promote member products. The goals on their list include planning seminars, conferences, workshops, information campaigns on health effects, processing, logistics, and storage of organic foods.

Polska Ecologia plans to have a wholesale company which will distribute and provide information on the member products. They will also feature a databank holding details on organic producers, processors, and operators. They wish to fight unfair competition by improving the exchange of information between these producers and processors and in cooperating with public institutions.

Polska Ekologia has in the recent past started a campaign to promote organic food in hotels and restaurants. They will be providing information on GMO foods and giving full support to the foundation of producers associations in the near future.

A Polish soft cheese made from sheep's milk with a "willowy green shade" became the nation's first product to be protected under EU regulations Monday.

The salty-tasting Bryndza Podhalanska, mostly handmade in Poland's southern mountain region of Podhale, joins a list of 800 products awarded a geographic trademark in the EU, such as Italy's Parma ham or Frances' Roquefort cheese.

Made from the milk of Polish mountain sheep, the cheese is only produced from May through September and requires 10 stages before it ripens. Only cheese using traditional methods from the Tatra region of Poland can bear the name.

"Its color may be white, creamy-white or with a willowy green shade," the formal trademark application says.

Bryndza was first mentioned in written records in 1527 and many references suggest it was used as a way of payment.

6/11/2007

According to Puls Biznesu, HCL Technologies, India's fifth-biggest IT outsourcing firm, has selected Kraków as the site of its new IT center.

The project, which is expected to be announced officially next week, will initially create 150 jobs, rising to 1,000 in the future, and will be geared to serving the needs of HCL's clients in Germany. Around 15 Indian firms have so far completed direct investments in Poland.

Source:www.wbj.pl,

A conscious Robert Kubica of Poland was being taken to hospital by helicopter with a leg or ankle injury, FIA said on Sunday, following his spectacular crash in the Canadian Formula One Grand Prix.

A spokesman for motorsport's world governing body FIA said: "He (Kubica) is in a stable conedition. He is conscious and will be leaving the circuit medical centre by helicopter for more tests in hospital. He has pain in a leg or ankle."

Kubica, 22, the first Pole to race in Formula One, lost control of his car on the approach to the Casino hairpin under braking from close to 300 kph when he attempted to pass Italian Toyota driver Jarno Trulli.

Kubica's BMW Sauber car lifted off the track, flew into a wall, crashed off it and then barrel-rolled with debris flying in all directions before smashing against the steel barriers on the other side of the circuit.

He was shaken up like a rag doll in the car as it flew in all directions and he was lifted from the car by medical staff.

His manager said he was conscious and talking, much to the relief of a huge crowd at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve where they were witnessing a dramatic incident-filled race.

Kubica's accident happened after 27 laps of the 70-lap race which was led from the start by British rookie Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren Mercedes-Benz, the joint championship leader who was seeking his first victory after a record five podium finishes at the start of the season.

PRESIDENT KACZYNSKI: (As translated.) Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to welcome everybody to the meeting between President Kaczynski and President Bush.

The talks have been longer than expected, yes. Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, we have had a longer meeting with President George W. Bush, and the subject of the conversation were the issues of interest to the United States of America and for Poland, our country.

Certainly we talked about the issue of missile defense system. We talked about problems pertaining to the relations with our very important Russian partner. We talked about the situation in Iran a little; also a little about the situation in Kosovo. But, of course, the main subject of talks were the two first issues.

I can tell you that as far as the missile defense system is concerned, the two parties fully agree. And this is in line with the obvious thing, that the system has no aggressive intentions. This is the plan which is to reenforce the protection of Europe against the dangers which result from the fact that not all the countries of the contemporary world are responsible -- we do not mean Russia here. It's about other states.

As far as relations with our Russian partner are concerned, well, we agree that Russia is an important country in the world and that the status of Russia, which is very extensive territorally, and is also very numerous in terms of population, and it has nuclear capability, which is the legacy from the previous period -- that all these factors give Russia basis for being a country important in the world, a country which really is very important. And the United States and Poland do not question that situation.

However, it is important that our Russian partner, with which Poland wants also to have as good relations as possible -- the United States has good relations with that country -- but that Russia should recognize that the world has changed for the last 18 years, and it concerns also Central and Eastern Europe, and in particular, it concerns our country.

No plans of the United States, as the U.S. President said, or Polish plans are directed against the interests of the Russian Federation. The Russian Federation can feel totally safe, at least from the respective of our countries, although there are some other larger states -- large states in the world, and some other entities are responsible for those states. However, the whole plan of the missile defense system is the plan which gives rights to more stability and defense, defense which is needed to guard against irresponsible actions, without any additional objectives here.

However, as far as other uses are concerned which were subjects to our talk, I introduced what I know about the issues related to the Western Balkans, because it is known that not long ago there was a meeting in Brussels, where I talked with almost all the leaders of the Western Balkan states. We talked also about Kosovo, the crucial problem there. We talked also about how, in Polish opinion, the solution pertaining to that region, formerly, the part of Serbia, however, in reality, it is a separate identity and how the relations pertaining to that region can be really reflected on other parts of the world.

We also talked about the stabilizing role of NATO today, and I hope that tomorrow, to an even larger extent. We also talked a little about the European Union. We talked about the states with which the United States is befriended and Poland is befriended. For example, the German Federal Republic. We also exchanged views on France. President George W. Bush had already had a chance to talk longer with President Sarkozy during the meeting of G8, and I had only a brief encounter with him two years ago when I was not President yet. But in two days time I'm going to meet him.

The conversation which we have had, very interesting, important for myself at least. I'm sure it will be followed up another meeting in mid-July. And then we will come to concrete results. The beginning of that was the meeting today, very fruitful for myself. And I want to thank you very much, Mr. President, for coming to Poland. Thank you. Thank you very much.

And now, President George W. Bush.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. President, thank you for your gracious hospitality. Laura and I are so honored to be with you and Mrs. Kaczynska. I think probably the highlight was to meet your granddaughter. And congratulations on the birth of another granddaughter.

This is our third trip to Poland. We have never been in this beautiful part of your country, and it's spectacular. We really thank you for inviting us to Jurata. Thank you for the walk in the woods. And thank you for the very friendly and important dialogue we had.

The President talked a lot about what we talked about. One thing I do want to do is praise this good country for being so strong for freedom. I love to be in a land where people value liberty, and are willing to help others realize the blessings of liberty. Kosciuszko is a statue right across the street from the White House, on which it says, "For our freedom and yours." Isn't that interesting? For our freedom, and somebody else's. Poland is a great advocate for democracy in the world today.

And I thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership in the cause of freedom. You're very much involved in the cause of freedom in two very difficult theaters: Afghanistan and Iraq. I thank you and I thank the people of Poland for the sacrifices they made so that others may live in a free society. You've deployed nearly 900 troops in Iraq, troops that are helping the Iraqi people defend their young democracy against extremists, radicals who murder in the name of an ideology to deny people the right to live in a free society. And I thank you for the leadership. I appreciate the fact that you've made the decision to extend the deployment through 2007. That is a bold and hard decision, I know. The people of Iraq will never forget it.

And it's important for those families who have lost a loved one in the Iraq theater to understand the American people won't forget it, either. And we send our prayers and blessings to those families.

Recently, in Afghanistan, there was a call for more NATO help, and this government stepped up quickly by sending more troops to help that young democracy survive, as well. So, Mr. President, thank you for your leadership. It's a proud moment in history when free countries are able to help others.

That's how you -- that's how you set the stage for peace. Free societies don't war with each other. That's why Europe is now whole, free, and at peace. Our dream is the same blessings of liberty be extended to the Middle East. I thank you for your stalwart support.

We discussed, as well, the efforts by Poland to help people who are -- need to be free from governments that are -- darken their vision. I thank you very much for your leadership for Belarus, the people of Belarus, a nation where peaceful protestors are beaten and opposition leaders are disappeared.

I appreciate so very much your speaking out on behalf of the dissidents in Cuba -- an island right off our coast, as you know, Mr. President, and it is inspiring for the people of Cuba who want to live in a free society to hear the voices from Europe, such as yours or the Czech Republic's.

We had a -- spent a lot of time talking about the Ukraine. I thank you for your insight. And then, of course, we did talk about missile defense, a subject that the President and I spent a lot of time talking about. It's a subject I spent a lot of time talking about with President Putin yesterday.

First, let me say I appreciate the support of the deployment of the missile defense interceptors here in Poland. We will negotiate a fair agreement that enhances the security of Poland, and the security of the entire continent against rogue regimes who might be willing to try to blackmail free nations. That's the true threat of the 21st century. It's a subject that I told you I discussed with President Putin.

PRESIDENT KACZYNSKI: (As translated.) Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to welcome everybody to the meeting between President Kaczynski and President Bush.

The talks have been longer than expected, yes. Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, we have had a longer meeting with President George W. Bush, and the subject of the conversation were the issues of interest to the United States of America and for Poland, our country.

Certainly we talked about the issue of missile defense system. We talked about problems pertaining to the relations with our very important Russian partner. We talked about the situation in Iran a little; also a little about the situation in Kosovo. But, of course, the main subject of talks were the two first issues.

I can tell you that as far as the missile defense system is concerned, the two parties fully agree. And this is in line with the obvious thing, that the system has no aggressive intentions. This is the plan which is to reenforce the protection of Europe against the dangers which result from the fact that not all the countries of the contemporary world are responsible -- we do not mean Russia here. It's about other states.

As far as relations with our Russian partner are concerned, well, we agree that Russia is an important country in the world and that the status of Russia, which is very extensive territorally, and is also very numerous in terms of population, and it has nuclear capability, which is the legacy from the previous period -- that all these factors give Russia basis for being a country important in the world, a country which really is very important. And the United States and Poland do not question that situation.

However, it is important that our Russian partner, with which Poland wants also to have as good relations as possible -- the United States has good relations with that country -- but that Russia should recognize that the world has changed for the last 18 years, and it concerns also Central and Eastern Europe, and in particular, it concerns our country.

No plans of the United States, as the U.S. President said, or Polish plans are directed against the interests of the Russian Federation. The Russian Federation can feel totally safe, at least from the respective of our countries, although there are some other larger states -- large states in the world, and some other entities are responsible for those states. However, the whole plan of the missile defense system is the plan which gives rights to more stability and defense, defense which is needed to guard against irresponsible actions, without any additional objectives here.

However, as far as other uses are concerned which were subjects to our talk, I introduced what I know about the issues related to the Western Balkans, because it is known that not long ago there was a meeting in Brussels, where I talked with almost all the leaders of the Western Balkan states. We talked also about Kosovo, the crucial problem there. We talked also about how, in Polish opinion, the solution pertaining to that region, formerly, the part of Serbia, however, in reality, it is a separate identity and how the relations pertaining to that region can be really reflected on other parts of the world.

We also talked about the stabilizing role of NATO today, and I hope that tomorrow, to an even larger extent. We also talked a little about the European Union. We talked about the states with which the United States is befriended and Poland is befriended. For example, the German Federal Republic. We also exchanged views on France. President George W. Bush had already had a chance to talk longer with President Sarkozy during the meeting of G8, and I had only a brief encounter with him two years ago when I was not President yet. But in two days time I'm going to meet him.

The conversation which we have had, very interesting, important for myself at least. I'm sure it will be followed up another meeting in mid-July. And then we will come to concrete results. The beginning of that was the meeting today, very fruitful for myself. And I want to thank you very much, Mr. President, for coming to Poland. Thank you. Thank you very much.

And now, President George W. Bush.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. President, thank you for your gracious hospitality. Laura and I are so honored to be with you and Mrs. Kaczynska. I think probably the highlight was to meet your granddaughter. And congratulations on the birth of another granddaughter.

This is our third trip to Poland. We have never been in this beautiful part of your country, and it's spectacular. We really thank you for inviting us to Jurata. Thank you for the walk in the woods. And thank you for the very friendly and important dialogue we had.

The President talked a lot about what we talked about. One thing I do want to do is praise this good country for being so strong for freedom. I love to be in a land where people value liberty, and are willing to help others realize the blessings of liberty. Kosciuszko is a statue right across the street from the White House, on which it says, "For our freedom and yours." Isn't that interesting? For our freedom, and somebody else's. Poland is a great advocate for democracy in the world today.

And I thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership in the cause of freedom. You're very much involved in the cause of freedom in two very difficult theaters: Afghanistan and Iraq. I thank you and I thank the people of Poland for the sacrifices they made so that others may live in a free society. You've deployed nearly 900 troops in Iraq, troops that are helping the Iraqi people defend their young democracy against extremists, radicals who murder in the name of an ideology to deny people the right to live in a free society. And I thank you for the leadership. I appreciate the fact that you've made the decision to extend the deployment through 2007. That is a bold and hard decision, I know. The people of Iraq will never forget it.

And it's important for those families who have lost a loved one in the Iraq theater to understand the American people won't forget it, either. And we send our prayers and blessings to those families.

Recently, in Afghanistan, there was a call for more NATO help, and this government stepped up quickly by sending more troops to help that young democracy survive, as well. So, Mr. President, thank you for your leadership. It's a proud moment in history when free countries are able to help others.

That's how you -- that's how you set the stage for peace. Free societies don't war with each other. That's why Europe is now whole, free, and at peace. Our dream is the same blessings of liberty be extended to the Middle East. I thank you for your stalwart support.

We discussed, as well, the efforts by Poland to help people who are -- need to be free from governments that are -- darken their vision. I thank you very much for your leadership for Belarus, the people of Belarus, a nation where peaceful protestors are beaten and opposition leaders are disappeared.

I appreciate so very much your speaking out on behalf of the dissidents in Cuba -- an island right off our coast, as you know, Mr. President, and it is inspiring for the people of Cuba who want to live in a free society to hear the voices from Europe, such as yours or the Czech Republic's.

We had a -- spent a lot of time talking about the Ukraine. I thank you for your insight. And then, of course, we did talk about missile defense, a subject that the President and I spent a lot of time talking about. It's a subject I spent a lot of time talking about with President Putin yesterday.

First, let me say I appreciate the support of the deployment of the missile defense interceptors here in Poland. We will negotiate a fair agreement that enhances the security of Poland, and the security of the entire continent against rogue regimes who might be willing to try to blackmail free nations. That's the true threat of the 21st century. It's a subject that I told you I discussed with President Putin.

I have made clear what you just made clear, Mr. President, the system we have proposed is not directed at Russia. Indeed, we would welcome Russian cooperation on missile defense. We think it makes sense to have a -- and I proposed, and he accepted, a working group from our State Department, Defense Department and military, to discuss different opportunities and different options, all aimed at providing protection for people from rogue regimes who might be in a position to either blackmail and/or attack those of us who live in free societies.

All in all, we had the kind of conversation you'd expect strong allies to have. It was candid, it was over a really good meal, and I'm looking forward to bringing you back, Mr. President, to the White House. I can't wait to see you there in mid-July. Again, thank you all for your wonderful hospitality. God bless the people of Poland.

Workers in several hypermarket chain stores staged a go-slow across Poland Thursday in protest at having to work on Sundays and public holidays, a Solidarity trade union spokesman confirmed. Thursday is a public holiday in Poland marking the Roman Catholic feast of Corpus Christi.

Workers and Solidarity union members intent on forcing retailers to close shop on public holidays were serving customers at a snail's pace Thursday.

Solidarity union officials noted several hypermarket chains had shut down for the Corpus Christi holiday, while others offered double wages to their employees to work on the holiday.

The union is lobbying parliament to pass legislation banning retail stores from operating on 12 annual public holidays.Source:

Taking advantage of a large pool of technically qualified young people here, Pune-based IT company Zensar has begun outsourcing services from Gdansk, the Baltic port city of Poland.

The new centre is going to create around 350 new jobs in Gdansk in the coming three years. Zensar is going to invest over $2 million initially, a development received very warmly by the city mayor. The first batch of Polish recruits has been trained in Pune and other batches will be going soon from Gdansk for training. The operation from Gdansk is the latest addition to Zenzar's global network of consulting and software development centres in the US, Japan, South Africa, Britain, China and India. Indian Ambassador to Poland Anil Wadhwa said: "Zensar's operation will certainly create good business. Its presence in Poland will mark a new chapter in East European countries that have joined the European Union after April 2004." Apart from Zensar, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has for the past two years been doing good business in Poland. The Polish economy is the fastest growing in the European Union. Last year, it grew by six percent-the highest in the EU.Source: infotech.indiatimes.com

Greek betting technology company Intralot said it has not received a request to go to arbitration by Polands Polski Monopol Loteryiny (PML) over a contractual dispute.

In an announcement to the Athens Stock Exchange, the company said that one of its Polish units Pollot Ltd has a contract with PML from November of 2002 to distribute instant lottery tickets that is currently on foot and it is complying with all of its obligations under the agreement.

Intralot added that the contract with PML only represents 1 pct of the revenues it generates in Poland with the other 99 pct generated by subsidiary Totlotek which is one of the largest fixed odds betting operations in the country.

Yesterday, sources told Thomson Financial News that Intralot will be taken to an arbitration hearing at the Paris International Chamber of Commerce by PML over a 5.2 mln eur claim because the terms of their agreement were too onerous for the Polish company.

“Exporting stock is a new and exciting venture for us after supplying the UK market with heifer replacements,” said George Morris, who runs the herd with his wife Claire and parents, John and Rosemary.